Roosters and shoes

johanna_h(Z5 SW MI)November 15, 2008

I had an odd experience this evening. I came home from work and went into the barn. I was wearing clogs, which I only wear when it starts getting cold out (today was probably the first time I wore them in the barn). My #2 rooster, Tweedledum, attacked my shoe and leg. He was quite aggressive and I really had to actively fight him off.

Once I was satisfied that he had given in, I came into the house. I needed to bring water back out for the chickens, so I changed into my old sneakers before I went. Tweedledum was his normal self, curious and accepting.

Is it possible that he does not make an association between my feet and me? Or that there is just something about the shape and color of a clog that freaked him out? It was a weird experience.

talking about odd expericences, - My Alfa Rooster Silver went crazy the other day when I went to feed everybody - but it was my gloves.

Silver was so afraid of them - I immediately took them off and he was fine. I have started putting them on in front of him now making sure he was watching me - he is now ok with them and has decided they were not a threat to him or his girls ( I even laid them on the ground for about 15 minutes so he could personally check them out).

anything different or new takes a while sometimes for them to get used to. You have to admit we probably look real different to them when we are all bundled up.

I think he just wanted to be sure it was me and not something that was going to hurt him!

don't worry Tweedledum will settle down once he gets used to seeing you in them and hearing them.

When 4-H children and their parents come to pick out birds to take home I tell them that they must wear only blue or grey clothing. That is what I wear around the birds and they are freaked out when someone wears something different. Red and orange are the colors that gets the strongest reactions.

Most of the birds are kept in a greenhouse and they are used to plants coming and going. If a different plant (other than what is grown in that greenhouse) is brought into there by mistake it freaks them out. They are very in tune with what is going on around them and any change gets a reaction.

So your different shoes or wearing gloves triggered their survival instincts-some flee while others attack-all this is normal behaviour.

Thanks for the responses. I'm glad to have my suspicions confirmed. Tweedledum is normally an agreeable rooster, so I was very caught off guard by the odd behavior and didn't want to think he had turned devil in one day!

I had the same thing happen with me. My rooster hates my red crocs, whenever I wear them he gets all anxious and sometimes attacks my feet. Maybe it's the red color like seramas said. All the chickens had problems with gloves when I first wore them, they would peck at them. They got over that when I fed them treats while wearing the gloves!

All my chickens seem to have a problem with my yellow crocs. The hens peck at them, and the rooster will always come at me when I'm wearing them. In over a year, they haven't gotten used to them yet! I think the girls are intrigued by the holes (think they might find a bug in one of them!) With the Roo I think he has figured out that they fly off my foot (thus, I retreat) when I kick back at him! I don't enter their pen wearing them anymore.